Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has said that Liberty Media need to give Formula 1 teams an ultimatum about the sport’s future direction.
In their first year in charge, Liberty Media faced intense scrutiny from media and teams alike, with Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne making another threat to withdraw Scuderia Ferrari from the sport after first plans for the new power unit formula beyond 2020 were revealed in late October.
With current world champions Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport also throwing doubts over their long-term position in the sport, Horner believes that Liberty Media have to settle on a decision as soon as possible and leave the constructors’ to decide on what they want to do.
“They are going to have to come up with a set of rules and say: ‘That’s what Formula 1 is, sign up or not’,” Horner said, speaking to RACER.
“And it’s in each team’s choice to decide if they want to be in the game or not.”
Horner himself has bemoaned the current era of V6 Turbo Hybrid power units, with Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz saying numerous times that he will pull out of Formula 1 if he cannot find a competitive engine. However, Horner has agreed somewhat with the initial plans for the 2021 engine formula.
“I’d be lying if I said I was totally happy, because ideally I would have loved a V10 or V12 normally-aspirated screaming engine.” he added.
“I can understand the reasoning behind the engine that they’ve picked.
“They’re trying to be responsible in ensuring cost, performance, noise – it ticks all the boxes that an engine should do in Formula 1.
“We’re already seeing interest from manufacturers like Aston Martin, if it’s affordable and reasonable value.”
Aston Martin have assumed the role of title sponsor for Red Bull from next year onwards, with CEO Andy Palmer spotted with Horner at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
